Theo never showed much enthusiasm for family matters. So he even ended up losing out to Roystan, who was younger than him.

And after the fall of the Noart Count Family, he quietly left for a foreign country…

‘Really… can I just leave him alone like this? He looks like he genuinely wants to stay at the Academy.’

While I was thinking that, Zahid was still grumbling at Ray.

“I mean, I just asked because I didn’t know.”

“What do you mean, didn’t know. You probably know more about Theo Noart than Rosie does. Why are you asking when you already know everything?”

“I don’t know much. Really.”

Ray shrugged innocently and said,

“It’s just… Theo Noart is professor material, not heir material. That’s all I know.”

“Suspicious bastard… you know everything, you totally know everything.”

“Know everything about what?”

“Be honest. Why are you getting close to Rosie? Huh? During magic nanology lab, how much did your hands touch?”

“What do you mean, ‘getting close’? That’s kinda hurtful. I just thought, you know, since she’s the top student, maybe we’d click in conversation? Oh, it wasn’t to ignore the last-ranked student or anything. If it sounded that way, maybe that’s your inferiority complex.”

“You little…!”

I let their squabbling go in one ear and out the other as I hopped off the bench.

‘As expected.’

Then I shoved the rest of my ice cream into my mouth.

‘I can’t just stand by knowing someone’s headed for misery.’

Even if Theo hadn’t made proper eye contact with me in nearly forty days!

Even if he didn’t take my side at all when I got dragged into the cheating incident and the artifact sabotage incident!

Still, I’m a good person!

And besides, I don’t really have anything to do until the parent meeting anyway!

‘I already have info from my previous life… solving this will be easy. I even prepared in advance before coming to the Academy, just in case.’

Theo Noart, I’m going to save you!

I dashed straight up to Theo and shouted out loud.

“Assistant Theo!”

The assistants walking with Theo stopped in curiosity.

“…Student Rosie?”

Theo halted, looking completely flustered.

Yuta, the assistant in charge of theology standing right next to him, also widened his eyes.

“Can we talk for a moment?”

From a distance, Ray and Zahid stared at me and Theo in shock.

Of course, the most shocked face was Theo’s.

I put both hands on my hips and said clearly,

“Theo oppa, just for a moment.”

* * *

“This is inappropriate, Student Rosie.”

Theo sighed deeply, speaking stiffly in the lab.

“I’m aware that some assistants look after their relatives.”

His overly polite tone felt like he was deliberately drawing a line between us.

“But I’m not one of them.”

His lips were firm with resolve.

“I have nothing to say about yesterday’s incident either. Nesha Saliod was dealt with according to protocol. Strictly speaking, you were merely caught up in it, not directly involved. If you’re here to ask me to look out for you because of this incident…”

“Theo oppa, but…”

“I’d appreciate it if you addressed me as ‘Assistant.’”

“Well, if I hadn’t called you ‘oppa,’ you wouldn’t have agreed to talk to me in the first place.”

“What are you…”

“You’re here now just to tell me not to call you that, right?”

Theo sighed deeply, rubbing his forehead.

I knew very well that he didn’t like this situation. I’d seen and felt it enough already.

“But I didn’t come to ask you to look out for me or anything.”

I answered softly, tilting my head.

“I’m the top student. I have no plans to stay at the Academy. And even though I’m good at it, I have zero interest in magic nanology. It’s boring.”

“That is incorrect. Magic nanology is fascinating.”

“Uh, anyway, I’m just saying I don’t need your help, Assistant. As for yesterday, clearing my name was enough—I don’t feel the need to bring it up again.”

“Then why go out of your way to talk to me?”

“It’s nice to have a cup of tea with family, don’t you think?”

The truth was, I had packed a whole bunch of flower petals I could brew into tea when I came to the Academy.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

And I carried a few in my pocket every day.

I hadn’t decided whether I’d help or not, but I’d been thinking constantly about Theo’s tragic ending.

I kept going back and forth, but seeing how dedicated he was to magic nanology finally made up my mind.

Even though Theo had never helped me in any way and probably never would.

“Tea… there’s not even a table. And no tea leaves either.”

He had said he didn’t want rumors between assistants and students, and that he could never be alone with me.

So in the end, I had no choice but to drag along both Ray and Zahid.

And for fun, Yuta—who had been standing with Theo—tagged along too.

Now, Yuta was smiling brightly next to Theo.

“I brought it, so let’s drink it together, Assistant. It’s expensive tea.”

Theo’s lab was nowhere near the right environment for tea.

There wasn’t even a table or proper cups.

But I jumped up and used an alcohol lamp and a beaker to steep the flower petals myself.

Then I poured the flower tea—floating with soft pink petals—into a test tube.

“You can eat the petals too. They said it won’t {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} kill you. Oh, since there’s no table, I guess we’ll all have to hold our drinks.”

“…”

“Surely you’re not going to be the kind of heartless teacher who throws away tea brewed by a student who was framed and bullied nonstop, right?”

Theo let out another deep sigh, as if this was the worst thing in the world.

But Yuta, finding it amusing, accepted the test tube first.

“Whoa! Cool! This is fun!”

His usual expressionless grin didn’t change. Despite being so handsome, his face still had a carefree, somewhat ridiculous air.

Sunlight streamed through the lab, making Yuta’s sparkling blond hair shine even more.

“I’ll enjoy this, Rosie.”

Since the senior assistant Yuta had accepted it, there was no way Theo could refuse.

After taking a sip, Yuta suddenly turned sternly to Zahid.

“Hmm, Zahid Dyfenril, minus ten points. You almost spilled flower tea on your Divine Beast. You should treat him with care.”

“…”

Yuta’s point deductions using the Divine Beast as an excuse continued every time he saw Zahid.

And by now, Zahid didn’t even bother to respond.

Well, if he wasn’t upset about it himself, I didn’t really have anything to say either.

“This is nice.”

I smiled shamelessly and held out the test tube to Theo.

“Let’s have tea together like this every lunch from now on!”

Honestly, I had prepared myself to have to persuade him several times.

But surprisingly, Yuta beamed and shouted,

“Sounds great! This is so fun! Thanks to Theo, I get to drink this mysterious, strange, indescribable tea from the top student!”

“You can just say it tastes bad, Assistant…”

I replied dryly, and Yuta shook his head with conviction.

“No way. I’m an assistant who respects flavor diversity.”

“Thanks for the respect. Should I open a tea shop someday for people like you? If I keep brewing, I’ll get better, right?”

“You’ll improve, Rosie. But I hope I can at least say that a tea shop isn’t a great life path for a student.”

“Fair enough, Assistant. But it’d be heartbreaking to crush a student’s infinite potential, wouldn’t it?”

“True, Rosie. But honestly, that’s life.”

“Ah! To meet such a true teacher of life…”

Ray and Zahid looked completely dumbfounded as they listened to our exchange.

Theo muttered to himself, “Wait… you can have a conversation like that… continuously…?”

Anyway, it was a good thing that Yuta said he’d drink my tea every day.

In the strict hierarchy of assistant society, if the senior approves, what can the junior do?

Theo sighed deeply, clearly exhausted.

Then he carefully hid his trembling hand so that no one would see.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep